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The Home of the “Bruins” on Box Elder Avanue 


BOBBY BRUIN 

OF THE 

Big Horn Motititains 


BY 

JEANNETTE GAMBLE PERKINS 


Illustrated from Photographs Made by the Author 
itt the Big Horn Mountains 


KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 

BURTON PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Publishers and Booksellers 





COPYRIGHTED I917 
BY 

BURTON PUBLISHING COMPANY 
Kansas City, Missouri 


•JUL -8 1918 


©Cl.A4985n8 





This story is dedicated to my little daughter, 
Dorothy, for whom it was first written. 

The Author. 









CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Black Bear Township 13 

II. The Triplets 21 

III. Some Neighbors of the Bruins 31 

IV. Clouds 41 

V. School Days 51 

VI. New Neighbors 63 

VII. Dorothy’s Lovers 75 

VIII. The Find 89 

IX. Wedding Festivities 102 


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ILLUSTRATIONS 


The Home of the Bruins on Box 

Elder Avenue Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Near the Arch, in Black Bear Township was 

the Home of a Family of Black Bears 15 

The Blackcoat Den and the Clawfoot Parsonage 35 

Father and Mother Bruin Returning from the 
Furcoat Country Bringing Uncle Peter 
with them 51 

A Better Place could not have been chosen 

for a School House 58 r 

Another Family had moved into the Neigh- 
borhood 63 

Mayor Cinnamons's Family and Their Den 77 

Bobby Spied the Lamb 93 

In Three More Days the Little Infant Could 

Walk a Short Distance 98 

The New Home of Dorothy and Bobby 110 








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CHAPTER I. 

Black Bear Township, 

Ear up in the hills in the Big Horn 
Mountains that, for the most part, are 
in Wyoming, are some of the most 
beautiful canyons in the world. These 
mountains are a branch of the Rocky 
Mountains, and are a part, therefore, 
of that system. 

The canyons that I am going to tell 
you about are in the central part of 
Wyoming, in what is called the Arch 
Creek Country. I wonder if you 
know who live there! Just a few 
sheep herders, in the summer time, 
and once in a while you might see 
the cabin of a lonely homesteader. But 
animals live in these hills, and of 
course you have already guessed that 
a great many hears are roaming 

13 


14 


BOBBY BRUIN 


around, and it is the bears in which 
we are particularly interested. 

The Arch Creek Country is named 
for the tiny stream that runs down 
through the valley for miles and miles, 
and the stream takes its name from 
the Arch, itself. 

In a low place in the valley are 
some picturesque rock formations, one 
of which is called “The Arch.” It is a 
great, jagged piece of rock that looks 
as if a big hole had been cut through, 
all of the way to the ground, and it 
is something like a bridge, hut it goes 
across the little stream and then down 
to the ground, so that the natural 
bridge really comes to a “jumping- off 
place.” The creek, under the arch, is 
not a bit wide nor deep; it is just the 
right size for bear families to use 
for drinking purposes, and in some — 
a very few — places it is deep enough 
for a hear bath-tub. 

You know, we grown-ups and chil- 
dren do not call things by the same 




Near the Arch, in Black Bear Township Was the Home 
of a Family of Black Bears. 



BOBBY BRUIN 


15 


names as bears would, but, in this 
story, we’ll use the big-bear names, 
and call Arch Creek, ''Cubby Creek,” 
because the tiny bear cubs like to play 
near the small stream and the big hole 
close by. And we’ll call what the 
grown-ups Avould have named "The 
Public Baths,” "Cinnamon Lake.” 

Of course bears are not so nice as 
people are about taking baths, and 
they are not angry because their Cin- 
namon Lake has not an enamel lining 
as our bath-tubs have. And if their 
nice black or brown coats of fur be- 
come dirty from the mud in their 
bath-tub they don’t mind it at all. 

ISTear the Arch, in Black Bear Town- 
ship, was the home of a family of 
black bears. It was a tiny family, 
with only two members — Father and 
Mother Bruin. And for their den they 
chose a cave up on the side of a hill, 
just above the Arch. It was quite the 
safest den they could find in the town- 
ship, for the hill was so very steep 


16 


BOBBY BRUIN 


that hunters would become very tired 
climbing up there; and then, too, the 
hunters would not have much of a 
chance, if the hears were angry and 
wanted to chase them, for the trees 
and bushes were so thick that people 
could not see the entrance to the den, 
but the bears could see out, though 
they have such funny, squinty little 
eyes that they depend on their ears 
and their noses too. And if they smell 
or hear anything strange they can 
look right out of their door and see 
if anyone is coming from the direction 
in which the sounds come, or from 
which the strange odor comes. 

In front of the Bruin den by the 
Arch was a tall pine tree, so high that 
it stood above all of the other trees 
around, and Father and Mother Bruin 
could climb up the high, straight trunk 
and see all of Black Bear Township, 
for it was not so very large; and if 
they wanted to see the beauties of the 
mountains and hills and valleys, no 


BOBBY BRUIN 


17 


better place could be found than this 
tree, right in their own front yard. 

Their yard was not very level, but 
it was good sized. For a few feet in 
front of the den it was much like one 
of our well-kept lawns; but w^e peo- 
ple would have thought it a dreadful 
front yard, for after those few feet 
it just tumbled and fell, until it had 
to stop tumbling, because it could go 
no farther, for by that time the yard 
had reached the bottom of the hill and 
arrived at Cubby Creek, which was the 
bears’ cistern or well or pump, which 
are all the same to bears. 

The inside of the den was roomy. 
Father Bruin thought. The reception 
room was large enough for him to 
stand in, but the ceilings of the other 
rooms were so low that no one of the 
family could stand in them, unless it 
was a baby bear, and when they moved 
into the house the baby bear had not 
yet come to Father and Mother Bruin. 

Bears have custopis and manners 


18 


BOBBY BRUIN 


that would seem very queer to us. 
They sleep nearly all winter, and it is 
fortunate for them, for in the moun- 
tains the snow drifts are deep and the 
weather is intensely cold. Sometimes 
the thermometer is fifty or sixty de- 
grees below zero, so that even bears 
would hate to go out of their dens. 
And if they did not mind the cold the 
bears could not find anything to eat, 
on account of the snow. 

In the spring, when they awaken, 
they just eat and eat, and they have 
all of their parties and socials in the 
night, and sleep most of the day. It 
would seem, from their way of living 
that they were afraid that someone 
would see them. 

Although hears prefer to be alone, 
a number of them have been known 
to stay together for a time, and Father 
and Mother Bruin were of the sociable 
kind. But when they first moved into 
their den it was late in the fall and 
they had little time to either make or 


BOBBY BRUIN 


19 


receive calls until the winter was over, 
and then they had such a lovely new 
interest in their home, and were so 
proud and happy over it that they did 
not care very much whether they saw 
other hears or not. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Triplets. 

It was a beautiful winter — that first 
one in which the Bruins lived in Black 
Bear Township; and it was a lovely, 
sunshiny day in February of which I 
am thinking, right now. It was very 
cold out of doors — about thirty degrees 
below zero, but inside of the den it 
was nice and snug and warm. 

Maybe you’ve guessed already just 
what a lovely surprise the Bruins had 
in that den of theirs. There were trip- 
lets — ^just think of it — three little tiny 
baby bears, or cubs, we should say, and 
my wasn’t Mother Bruin flustered and 
worried about those tiny cubs! They 
were not over eight or nine inches 
long, and they were really not one bit 
pretty nor. cute. Of course you must 
21 


22 


BOBBY BRUIN 


not tell Mother Bruin that I have said 
that for I should not want to offend 
her. But Father Bruin was so dis- 
appointed and disgusted that he didn’t 
know what to do. 

When Mother Bruin called him in 
to see the surprise he said: “Ugh!” 
That was all he said. Of course it 
wouldn’t sound nice to any mother, 
to have the babies’ father just grunt 
at them, and it didn’t sound any bet- 
ter to Mother Bruin than to other 
mothers. So she said: “Uh-hugh- 
ugh-ugh-uh!” which is bear for “Don’t 
you think they are little darlings?” 

Father Bruin shook his head violent- 
ly and answered, “Uh-ugh!” That 
means, “No, indeed! ! !” 

But Mother Bruin didn’t agree with 
him, at all. She told him, in bear lan- 
guage, that ugly babies make the best 
looking children. 

But Father Bruin could hardly be 
reconciled when he looked at the poor, 
naked babies. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


23 


The best way to describe a very tiny 
cub is to call it “skinny,” because it is 
so thin and it has no fur on, at all, and 
and that makes it look skinny, all over. 

After Father Bruin looked a while, 
he seemed to get a little more accus- 
tomed to those skinny triplets. He 
said: “If they would only open their 
eyes!” His words would have sound- 
ed to us like, “Uh-huh-uh-huh!” 

A week after the arrival of the cubs 
Father and Mother Bruin grew alarm- 
ed because the cubs had not yet opened 
their eyes. This was the first time that 
they had ever had such a surprise and 
there was a great deal that they didn’t 
know about cubs, especially tiny cubs. 

But as the cubs seemed to thrive 
the parents began to resign themselves 
to the fact that all three of their 
children were blind, and they believed 
that the little ones were martyrs, and 
that it was wonderful that they could 
appear so cheerful. 

So life commenced in earnest for 


24 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Father and Mother Bruin. Getting 
food and feeding the three blind babies 
was hard work after the long, sleepy 
winter. But about that time they had 
a lovelier surprise than ever. One 
morning, after a month had passed, 
Mother Bruin went into see her chil- 
dren, and what do you think? Six 
little, squinty, bright eyes were look- 
ing at her. 

At first she just stood still, but after 
a minute she called loudly to Father 
Bruin. She appeared so excited that 
he came running, and when she pointed 
to those little shiny eyes he stood still, 
too. 

Then — well, it is almost too shock- 
ing to tell you, but those two digni- 
fied people began to dance, and they 
danced most all of the steps they knew, 
like the fox trot and the grizzly bear 
and others. I think it was quite a 
shame that they lost their dignity, 
don’t you? 

But, of course, they were so happy 


BOBBY BRUIN 


25 


they just had to dance, and dance they 
did, until the cubs got so tired of it, 
they squealed and growled a little. 

That brought Father and Mother 
Bruin back to sensible ways of act- 
ing. After quieting the triplets the 
parents planned how they should let 
their neighbors know of the great joy 
at the den. 

Mother Bruin — she was quite a so- 
ciety bear, you know — said that an- 
nouncement cards would have to be 
sent out. So she started, at once, to 
get them ready. She told Father Bruin 
to go and bring some nice, smooth 
pieces of bark — smooth on the inside. 
Then, after the bark had been brought. 
Father and Mother Bruin chewed the 
sides and ends off until the pieces were 
nearly square. With their claws the 
bears wrote on the bark, using some 
mud from Cubby Creek mixed with 
the white stuff called gypsum that 
grows in streaks in the rocks. 

If the occasion had not been such an 


26 


BOBBY BRUIN 


important one the Bruins would have 
called that white stuff just “gyp,” as 
everybody else — both people and bears 
— call it, unless they wish to be very 
careful of their English. 

Mud and “gyp” make a fine kind 
of bear ink. There are so many red 
sandstone hills around the place where 
the den was located that the mud in 
the creeks is a real brick red. When 
the red mud was mixed with white 
gypsum it made a beautiful coral- 
colored ink. 

At last, when the cards and the ink 
were all ready, Father and Mother 
Bruin happened to think that, in the 
worry over what they had supposed 
was the blindness of their cubs, they 
had forgotten to name their children. 

I had better tell you, right now, 
that no really good, sensible cub opens 
its eyes for about a month; they are 
too sleepy and lazy. Lots of grown 
folks don’t know that, but wouldn’t 
you think that Father and Mother 


BOBBY BRUIN 


27 


Bruin would have known But, I 
suppose they didn’t happen to have a 
Doctor Bear near, to tell them that 
their children were troubled with lazi- 
ness, not blindness. 

After Father and Mother Bruin had 
looked carefully at the young bears 
and thought over the matter. Father 
Bruin decided to name the longest and 
largest one Theodore Eoosevelt Bruin; 
then Mother Bruin named the medium 
sized one Susan Maria Bruin. The 
wee fat cub which was still unnamed 
had been a favorite with the fond par- 
ents, because he was not long and lank 
and skinny, but had grown to be a lit- 
tle chunky cub. We people would 
speak of our babies as ^dear little cher- 
ubs,” but one could hardly call a bear a 
^^cherub,” and to Father and Mother 
Bruin ‘'Little Chunky Cub” was a dear 
name. Both parents wanted to name 
the favorite. Father wanted to name 
him after the Lewis and Clark Expedi- 
tion, which had done a lot of explor- 


28 


BOBBY BRUIN 


ing in that part of the country. Father 
Bruin thought that would be a fine- 
sounding name. Mother Bruin smiled 
and said in bear language: 

“Yes, wouldn’t that sound fine, 
Lewis and Clark Expedition Bruin?” 

Father didn’t really mean to give all 
of that name, and he said so. They 
argued so much about it that it was 
nearly a quarrel, and finally the little 
cub in question commenced to cry, 
“huh-huh! huh-huh!” You’d never 
guess what that is in English, so I’m 
going to tell you. The poor little baby 
was crying, “Give me a nice name! 
give me a nice name!” 

That settled it as far as Mother 
Bruin was concerned. She was sure 
that “Robert” was a nice name, but 
not so, thought Father Bruin. He 
thought “Lewis,” or “Clark” much 
nicer. Then Mother had a bright and 
sensible idea she told Father Bruin 
that the cub should be named “Robert 
Lewis Bruin,” and, fortunately, that 


BOBBY BRUIN 


29 


name pleased Father Bruin, too. You 
see, Mother Bruin thought how cute it 
would be to call him “Bobby Bruin,” 
but she didn’t say that to father. 

But there was still another problem 
before the Bruins. They must have 
a name for their home. It would he 
very stylish. And then there were no 
streets nor avenues, as yet, in Black 
Bear Township. But to name the ave- 
nue would be simple because, as Father 
Bruin said, it could hardly be possible 
for any more trees of box elder to 
grow in any valley along any creek 
than grew by Cubby Creek, so Box 
Elder Avenue should be the name of 
the street. 

Mother chimed right in and said, in 
hear language: “Yes, and our den is 
Sage Brush Den, for you couldn’t 
crowd many more sage bushes in any 
front yard than are crowded in ours.” 

So, at last, they were ready to write 
the cards, and this is what they wrote, 
with their claws: 


30 


BOBBY BRUIN 


“Father James Bruin and Mother 
Nora Bruin 

announce the arrival of triplets: 
Theodore Koosevelt Bruin, 
Susan Maria Bruin, 

Robert Lewis Bruin, 
on February tenth, 1915, at their home. 
Sage Brush Den, 
on Box Elder Avenue,” 


CHAPTER III. 


Some Neighbors of the Bruins. 

Father and Mother Bruin were ex- 
hausted after their work of making the 
announcement cards, hut they had still 
more work to do. The cards must be 
delivered, and as the triplets were the 
first children to arrive at the Den, 
there were no older brothers and sis- 
ters to act as messengers. 

Mother Bruin could not leave the 
cubs, for baby bears, if they are not 
strong, cannot walk about and follow 
the mother, the first two months, and 
sometimes longer. That was one rea- 
son that Mother Bruin was very tired, 
taking care of three helpless babies 
was hard work. Wouldn’t our mothers 
think it awful? The care of one baby 
is a task, and just think what three 

31 


32 


BOBBY BRUIN 


would be! And in Black Bear Town- 
ship there were not any nice bear 
nurse-maids. But there was one thing 
that Mother Bruin was thankful for, 
and that was that there were only 
three and not four habies, for some- 
times when cuhs arrive in bear dens 
the parents find that four have come, 
although there are more likely to he 
two or one, so Father and Mother 
Bruin were a little unusual in having 
three. 

While Mother Bruin loved all three 
of them she didn’t see how she could 
possibly have taken care of even one 
more, and she was thankful. She 
laughingly repeated to Father Bruin 
what we would have called a Mother 
Goose jingle, only it was a Mother 
Bear jingle, and this is what she re- 
peated: 

“There was a bear Mother 

Who lived in a den; 

She had three haby cuhlets. 

With four what would she do then?” 


BOBBY BRUIN 


33 


Father Bruin said he was thankful, 
too, and because Nora was tired he 
would deliver all those cards, himself. 
So Mother Bruin made a sort of holder 
for the cards. Poor bears; they didn’t 
know anything about making baskets, 
so their substitute for one was a pine 
branch that had three or four bunches 
of pine needles, and they put a card or 
two in each bunch, between the needles. 

Then Father Bruin started out with 
the pine branch between his teeth. He 
had to walk down the front yard hill 
and along Cubby Creek — but now that 
the Bruins had named it a real street, 
it should be called “Box Elder Avenue’’ 
— until he came to another rocky hill 
where there were marks that told him 
that bears lived there. The Bruins had 
not received any callers yet, so it was 
an important matter, this leaving an- 
nouncement cards at the front doors of 
people they didn’t know. 

Father Jim Bruin had come of a fair- 
ly aristocratic family, but Nora — the 


34 


BOBBY BRUIN 


triplet’s mother — was very aristocratic. 
Her family even had a coat of arms — 
the impression of a bear’s foot — so 
Father Bruin had become accustomed 
to her particular code of manners. 

Now, because bears seldom live in 
the same den two successive winters, 
the only way they have of deciding who 
should do the calling first is to find out 
if a den has ever been inhabited before. 
According to bear etiquette the owners 
of the newest den are considered the 
newcomers and consequently should 
be called on first. 

Mother Bruin made Father Bruin 
understand all of this, perfectly, and 
this is what the parents decided to 
do: Father Jim Bruin must go up 
to the door, scratch away the twigs, 
place the announcement card, and say, 
loudly: “IJh-uh!” which means, “Hello 
the house !” Some of the family 
would hear Father Bruin’s growl, and 
come immediately; then Father Bruin, 
in a pleasant, but calm and dignified 


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The Blackcoat Den and the Clawfoot Parsonage. 



BOBBY BRUIN 


35 


bear growl, was to say, ‘^Good morn- 
ing!’’ and with a graceful flourish of 
his arm and paw he was to point to- 
ward the card, pick up the pine branch 
and slowly walk away. Now, really, 
I just had to say ‘'with a graceful 
flourish,” for it would have spoiled 
the dignity of Mr. Jim Bruin to say, 
“With a wobbly movement of his front 
leg he pointed to the card, and then he 
seized the pine branch with his chewers 
and crawled away,” but that is what 
he really did. 

At each den Father Bruin found 
a nice little place and scratched with 
his claw a perfectly smooth spot — that 
is he raked away all of the dead leaves 
and twigs until onlj^ the cold, frozen, 
brown earth was seen, and on this bare 
place he laid the card. 

As his friends were all bears they 
were greatly impressed with what they 
considered his calm and scholarly dig- 
nity. 

When all of the cards had been dis- 


36 


BOBBY BRUIN 


tributed Father Bruin went back to 
bis own den, highly pleased with him- 
self ; he was so pleased that he thought 
he had earned a holiday, and as a result 
he went up in the mountains to have 
a feast of anything he could find. 

It was on one of the slightly warmer 
days of early spring and Father Bruin 
had a fine streak of luck — he found a 
rabbit, and he thought how glad Nora 
would be, for she really was in need 
of such food. She had become quite 
thin during the weeks of caring for 
the cubs and being kept in so closely 
on account of the triplets not being 
able to walk much, as yet. 

On his return home he found Mother 
Bruin happy and satisfied, for there 
had been several cards left in the front 
yard, in noticeable places, and you 
know every woman likes to think that 
she has been the first one to do some- 
thing nice, and bears are like people 
in many ways. 

Mother Bruin was proud of her an- 


BOBBY BRUIN 


37 


cestors and family, as well she might 
be, for the Glacier type of black bear is 
very fine. There are three distinct types 
— the black bears, which are the bru- 
nettes; the cinnamon hears, or blondes; 
and the glaciers, the most beautiful 
of all. So lovely are they that it is 
hard to find a name for them; they 
have fine fur coats of grayblue. And 
from this lovely type of glacier bears 
came Mother Nora Bruin. 

When Father Bruin returned he and 
Nora looked at the cards together, and 
there was the announcement of twin 
hoy cubs, horn to the Reverend and 
Mrs. Clawfoot, and of the twins horn 
to Mr. and Mrs. Blackcoat, and of one 
little daughter cub to Mayor and Mrs. 
Cinnamon. 

There was enough excitement in 
Black Bear Township to last the gos- 
sips a month, at least, for bears are 
not very talkative and a little hit of 
news would go a long way with them. 

The next thing to expect were call- 


BOBBY BRUIN 


ers, so Mother Bruin thought, and her 
expectation was right, for the very 
next day after the cards were sent 
out the mayor’s wife called. Until the 
Bruins received those cards they were 
not at all sure that the township had 
a mayor. Over across the mountains 
in the Pass Creek Country, which the 
bears call “The Fur Coat Country,” 
Father James Bruin had been the 
prosecuting attorney; but not washing 
to intrude his greatness among new 
neighbors, he signed his name just 
“Mr. Jim Bruin.” 

Mother Bruin was almost wailing 
because the Cinnamons had “put one 
over on them,” in that way. The last 
expression is American slang, but the 
bears are quite quick in acquiring 
slang, so perhaps they would say it in 
that way, too. 

But Father Bruin said that it was 
really heroic to hide one’s greatness 
behind modesty, and now that the 
mayor’s wife had called, and Mother 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Bruin had told her of Father Bruin’s 
public office over in the Fur Coat 
Country it would really be an agree- 
able surprise for the neighbors to find 
out what a great man was living 
among them. And Father Bruin was 
sure that Mrs. Cinnamon would tell 
all of the neighbors just who he was, 
and also that Nora, his dear wife, was 
one of the glacier hears. 

He was quite correct, for Mrs. Cin- 
namon hurried home and told Father 
Cinnamon, even if he was the mayor, 
that he must stay with the baby daugh- 
ter, whose name was Dorothy Cinna- 
mon, until she — the mother — had call- 
ed on all of the neighbors and told 
her news. 

While Mother Cinnamon was calling 
and gossiping Father Cinnamon looked 
fondly at his baby daughter and 
thought that if one of the boys of the 
triplets lived — so many bears do not, 
you know — and amounted to anything 
at all, perhaps a match between an 


40 


BOBBY BRUIN 


heir of the Glaciers and his daughter 
might not be a bad arrangement. He 
thought so long and hard about it 
that he dozed off to sleep and when 
Mrs. Cinnamon came home she found 
the mayor and his baby daughter 
curled up in two balls — a big-sized ball 
for Mr. Mayor, and a tiny ball for 
Baby Dorothy. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Clouds. 

You know there are ever and ever 
so many different kinds of clouds. 

There are clouds in the sky — every- 
one understands about them; how, 
sometimes, they are big and blue or 
black and heavy just before a thunder 
storm ! then sometimes they are gray — 
the kind that doesn’t float around fast, 
but just spreads over the whole sky. 
They couldn’t do much floating, for 
they get so close together, usually, 
that no room is left in the blue sky, 
so when they grow they have to grow 
downward until it finally rains and 
rains, and then rains some more; then 
there are the pretty white clouds, all 
fluffy, as if the angels had scattered 
handfuls of cotton over the sky. They 
are beautiful when they stay that way, 

41 


42 


BOBBY BRUIN 


but often they become so cross and 
angry with one another that they get 
to be black clouds, which make the 
storms. When they stay sweet-tem- 
pered, often, before the day is over, 
they float aAvay, laughing to them- 
selves to think how they have fooled 
everyone. 

Then there is another kind of cloud 
— a dreadful kind that big folks talk 
about and write about as ‘‘clouds of 
despair,’’ or of “sorrow” or “gloom.” 

Now, a cloud of sorrow came into 
the den of the Bruins, but after it was 
all over Mother Bruin said that it was 
a cloud with a silver lining. 

Theodore Roosevelt and Susan Maria 
were not so strong as Robert Lewis 
and they were not able to walk around 
their yard or follow their mother, as 
any healthy little cub can always do 
when two or three months old; but 
by the last of April only Robert Lewis 
could walk well. 

Both parents were worried and 


BOBBY BRUIN 


43 


Mother Bruin became thinner than 
ever, and she kept hunting for herbs, 
for they are the bears’ medicine. 

One morning, after a particularly 
long and fruitless search for a cer- 
tain kind that Mrs. Clawfoot, the 
minister’s wife, told her might be good 
— it was an herb that had a long bear 
name — she came home, discouraged, 
and found Theodore Roosevelt just 
barelj^ breathing; she went to the 
front door and called to Father Bruin 
to come quickly. He was down at 
Cubby Creek, getting a drink, but he 
came as fast as he could, and as he hur- 
ried up the hill in the front yard he 
kept saying to himself in bear lan- 
guage, ^^Thank fortune, thank fortune, 
my den is upon a hill, and not in a 
hole!” You see, bears can run much 
faster up hill than down, and it would 
have taken him a longer time to have 
answered Mrs. Bruin’s call if he had 
been obliged to run down hill. 

It was a tired and flustered Father 


44 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Bruin that rushed into the den. The 
parents worked with the poor bahj’ 
cub, but it did no good. They knew 
that they couldn’t keep life in the little 
furry body for very long. The cub 
lived only a few days, then one night, 
he breathed his last. 

Mother Bruin was filled with sor- 
row, and also worn out after her care 
of the sick baby. That evening the 
minister came and told her that there 
was grief in the home of the Black- 
coats, too. You remember that the 
Bruins had received cards announc- 
ing the arrival of twins at the Black- 
coats’ soon after the coming of the 
triplets. The cards had read that the 
names of the cubs were Sammy and 
Josephine, and the Eeverend Claw- 
foot said that Sammy had passed away 
quietly the day before. 

When Mother Bruin had asked what 
disease had taken Sammy away, the 
minister had said that Sammy had 
eaten so much that he couldn’t hold 


BOBBY BRUIN 


46 


any more ; and that his little full 
stomach had pressed against his heart 
so heavily that he had died from a 
combination of acute indigestion and 
heart failure. If there had been any 
one thing that could have made 
Mother Bruin feel less sad it would 
have been the thought that her little 
son had not died because of piggish- 
ness, but because he was too weak to 
live. 

After the minister left Father Bruin 
went to gather some more herbs, and 
Mother Bruin lay down to rest beside 
the other two cubs. 

Robert was as strong and healthy a 
cub as any mother could ever want, so 
Mother Bruin devoted herself to the 
care of her little daughter. In her 
anxiety over Theodore Roosevelt she 
had not noticed how listless Susan Ma- 
ria had become. Mother Bruin 
couldn’t coax her to eat, nor, in fact, 
to do anything. She cried quietly, but 
continually, and as Mother Bruin lov- 


46 


BOBBY BRUIN 


ingly patted her the bab}^ cub looked 
up and tried to speak, but she could 
not — she could only look. And then 
the baby cub went into a sleep so 
deep that she never awakened. 

Mother Bruin was now heart-broken 
and Father Bruin was sorrowful when 
he came home and learned that an- 
other one of his children had passed 
over the big river to the bears’ angel 
land. But after the hardest of their 
grief was over they were thankful that 
triplets had come to them, for the}^ 
still had one little son left, upon whom 
they could lavish all their love and 
care. 

And Robert got love and care in 
abundance. Sometimes it wasn’t the 
right kind of care, for they spoiled 
him dreadfully. But the neighbors 
couldn’t help liking the little black 
bear that was always teasing and get- 
ting into mischief, for he was a good- 
hearted and generous Robert, and he 
was happy all of the time. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


47 


Father Bruin alwa3^s had insisted on 
the Lewis part of Bobby’s name, and 
Mother Bruin was equally determined 
about the Robert part that she hoped 
would some day be shortened to 
‘^Bobby.’’ After the death of the other 
two babies Mother Bruin was so sad 
that Father Bruin wanted to be kind 
to her, so he told her that he had heard 
her tell Mrs. Clawfoot one da}^ that 
she hoped that Robert Lewis’ name 
would sometime be shortened to Bob- 
by, and he suggested that they now do 
that very thing, if it would please his 
Nora dear. 

You can guess what '^Nora dear” 
did, can’t you? She just jumped up 
and gave her Jim a big bear hug, and 
said, ^'Huh-huh!” meaning ''All right, 
we will!” And Bobby it was from that 
moment. 

Bobby grew fat and played around 
Cubby Creek, and sometimes he went 
over to play with his little friends. 

One afternoon Bobby had gone over 


48 


bobby BRUIN 


to Dorothy Cinnamon’s, and Josephine 
Blackcoat had come over, too. And 
when the parsonage twins saw the cuhs 
playing at the mayor’s house they 
wanted to play, too, so they came run- 
ning. The names of the twins were 
Buster Bear Clawfoot and Billy Bear 
Clawfoot. 

While all of the cubs were having 
lots of fun Mayor Cinnamon came 
home, and when he saw them, he 
thought how fast they were growing, 
and that it was high time that their 
mischievous pranks were stopped, at 
least a part of the day, by putting them 
in school. 

That night Mayor and Mrs. Cinna- 
mon called at Sage Brush Den, the 
home of the Bruins, and talked about 
having a school. Mother Bruin said 
that she knew of the finest kind of a 
teacher. It was her Uncle Peter Gla- 
cier, and because the hears of Black 
Bear Township knew how fine and 
aristocratic Mrs. Bruin’s family was, 



In Three More Days the Little Invalid Can 
Walk a Short Distance. 



f ' 
• } 



BOBBY BRUIN 


49 


they accepted her suggestion at once; 
and Father and Mother Bruin made 
arrangements to start the next night 
for the Fur Coat Country, where 
Father Bruin had been the Honorable 
James Bruin, prosecuting attorney, 
and where Mother Bruin’s family, the 
Glaciers, all lived. 

As it would be a long and tiresome 
journey they decided that Bobby was 
too young to go, so Mayor and Mrs. 
Cinnamon asked that he stay at their 
house while the Bruins were gone. 

Mayor Cinnamon winked a squinty 
eye and said to himself that he still 
had that match between Bobby and 
Dorothy on his mind. 

The cubs had lots of fun, for the bear 
children played all together now. And, 
as you know, five little bears can play 
five times bigger pranks than one little 
bear, alone, can do. 

Bobby had never been away from 
Mother Bruin before. When he was 


60 


BOBBY BRUIN 


at play he didn’t mind it much, but 
when he tried to go to sleep he felt 
lonely, yet when he thought of the 
jolly school days ahead he was glad, 
for cubs do not realize how much hard 
work in numbers, spelling and reading 
and writing would have to he done; 
and then, too, Bobby couldn’t help but 
feel proud and important because it 
was his Uncle Peter who would be 
the teacher. 

When Mother Bruin’s sleepy time 
arrived she kept thinking of Bobby — 
indeed, he was on her mind during her 
waking time, too. But she told Father 
Bruin that she believed everything was 
for the best; that even if her heart did 
ache for her two lost baby cubs she 
would be able to do much more for 
Bobby than if they had lived. 

And Father Bruin, who was quite 
optimistic, said that he guessed that 
must be the silver lining to what had 
been their cloud of sorrow. 


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Father and Mother Bruin Returning from the Furcoat Country 

Bringing Uncle Peter With Them. 


CHAPTER V. 

School Days. 

In due time Father and Mother 
Brnin returned from the Fur Coat 
Country, bringing Uncle Peter Gla- 
cier with them, and it was not long 
until the Black Bear school was an 
established fact, and the children were 
doing very well. 

Recess at the bear school was not 
so short as it is in other schools, so 
the cubs had lots more fun. One day, 
at recess, the cubs were having what 
seemed to be the time of their lives — 
at least it was the time of their lives 
to a part of them. 

The ones who were enjoying them- 
selves the most were Buster, Billy and 
Josephine. They were growing so 
noisy in their fun, and growling so 

51 


52 


BOBBY BRUIN 


hard in their growly laughter that 
Uncle Peter — all of the children called 
him that, as well as Bobby — came out 
to see what was the cause of the dis- 
turbance. And when he saw what 
they were laughing about, he, too, was 
amused, and the old scamp suggested 
that they all go over quietly to the spot 
where the objects of their curiosity 
were and hear as well as see. 

Bears do not mind showing curios- 
ity, as we do, for it is not considered 
impolite among them. But there is 
one thing that we mind still more, and 
that is being sly and listening to re- 
marks not meant for us to hear; and 
bears do not mind those things at all, 
so the school children crawled quietly 
over, with their teacher, to a certain 
spot on the side of a hill. Near that 
spot was an old pine log, and hack of 
that log was a baby pine tree, not 
much higher than a little cub when he 
stands on his hind legs. 

Maybe you have been wondering 


BOBBY BRUIN 


53 


where Dorothy Cinnamon and Bobby 
Bruin were. As soon as recess had 
come they had just wobbled away, as 
fast as they could go, to this quiet spot, 
which was almost hidden from view. 
But they couldn’t go so fast that their 
playmates couldn’t see where they 
went, and the other cubs had followed, 
crawling along the hill, and sneakiilg 
behind the sage brush, until they came 
to a place where they could go down 
the hill nearly to Cubby Creek and 
look up and see Dorothy and Bobby. 

When Uncle Peter came down and 
saw, too, he thought it would be a 
good joke to hear what Bobby was 
saying, so earnestly. Then, too, Doro- 
thy was smiling such an angelic little 
bear smile that he knew it must be 
something nice. 

The bears all tip-toed along — if 
hears can’t tip-toe they can do some- 
thing just as good — and as they were 
climbing the hill they suddenly 
stopped, for they heard Bobby’s little 


54 


BOBBY BRUIN 


growly voice singing, although bears 
do not do anything that really sounds 
like singing; tliej'^ only growl in a 
little different tone. 

But Dorothy looked as if she thought 
it was wonderful singing. After Bob- 
by had stopped his music the cubs 
heard the following conversation, in 
the grunty growls of bear language : 

“Why, Bobby, where did you learn 
that tunel” 

“Oh,” said Bobby, “it’s a song of the 
people, translated into bear language, 
and I did it!” 

“But where did you hear it?” asked 
Dorothy. 

“I heard that fool hunter singing it. 
Don’t you remember the hunter that 
scared me so, when I went home from 
school the other day? You see, I was 
so small that I hid behind a rock and 
he was seated on another one just a 
little way off, and he was singing that 
tune about “School Days, School Days, 
Little Boy and Girl Days,” which T 


BOBBY BRUIN 


65 


think was very foolish of him because 
he was a grown-up. If he had been a 
little boy I should have gone out and 
scared him to death and then eaten him 
up, all of him, every bit, and then I 
guess 

Dorothy interrupted angrily: ^‘That^s 
very selfish!’’ But Bobby answered 
quickly : 

‘^0, Dorothy, you know I’d have 
given you a thin slice of him. I don’t 
believe that your stomach would hold 
as much as mine would.” 

In rather a peevish tone Doroth}?' 
said : ‘^I don’t know, but if you’d give 
me half of that hunter, or more, as 
Buster Bear Clawfoot would, I’d eat 
half of what you gave me and divide 
the other half among the other cubs.” 

Bobbj^ seeing his mistake, and not 
wanting to give Buster Bear a chance 
to win Dorothy’s good opinion, said: 

''Well, Dorothy, I’ll give it all to 
you, when I kill my first hunter, and I 


66 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Avon’t eat one tiny bite. But don’t you 
want me to sing again?” 

Then it was that Dorothy hesitated, 
and the saying that “She who hesitates 
is lost” is just as true of bears as of 
people. And Dorothy did love that lit- 
tle song, and she was proud of the fact 
that Bobby Bruin — her Bobby — had 
arranged that song to suit bears, so she 
said that Bobby should sing it again, 
and smiled lovingly at him. 

This is what Uncle Peter and the 
cubs heard: 

“School da3^s, school da\^s! 

Little cubby school days! 

Beadin’ and riting’ and rithmetic. 

Taught to the tune of a hickory 
stick I 

You are my queen, my Dorothy, 

I am your black bear be.au, you see! 

When you wrote on the bark 

‘Do you loA^e me?’ 

When we were a couple of cubs.” 

That was almost too much for the 


BOBBY BRUIN 


57 


other bears’ gravity — they wanted to 
laugh and shout; but Uncle Peter 
winked a squinty eye for them to keep 
quiet, and they crouched down and 
crawled back to the schoolhouse. 

The bear school was in just the 
finest place for a school that could be 
found in Black Bear Township. Box 
Elder Avenue, which you will remem- 
ber, runs along by Cubby Creek, was 
a dreadfully crooked street, and at one 
place it had to go around some big 
rocks that had fallen, long ago, from 
the side of the mountains. These rocks 
had tumbled themselves together so as 
to make a great cave -like opening that 
was fine for a school-room; and one 
small rock had tumbled about six feet 
farther than the others and stopped in 
just the place for the teacher’s desk. 

When school opened Uncle Peter had 
pulled a large piece of bark from a 
tree and printed on it with the coral 
ink used by bears the name of the 
school, and placed it in the branches 


58 


BOBBY BRUIN 


of a cedar tree. And there is a nice 
little story about that tree. 

Before those rocks took a notion to 
fall a little cedar sprang up and grew 
slowly — you know that cedars grow 
almost as slowly as pine trees do, and 
pine trees grow very slowly — and 
started to live its life. When it Avas 
only a few feet high the rocks fell on 
it; but do you think that the little tree 
gave up and died? No, indeed, it was 
too plucky for that. It couldn’t grow 
straight, for it would have been all in 
darkness that way, so it commenced to 
grow toward a tiny speck of sunlight 
which came through a hole between 
the rocks, and the first thing it knew 
it was growing through that hole and 
out into the world of sun and air. And 
the rocks were so pleased with the 
cedar’s strength and determination 
that they slipped a little and gave the 
tree more room to grow. 

A better place could not have been 
chosen for a school-room, and the cubs 



A better place could not have been chosen for a School-house 







BOBBY BRUIN 


59 


were pleased with the legend — only 
they didn’t call it a ‘‘legend,” but 
Bobby thought of something else about 
it, and this is what he told IJncle Peter 
and the cubs: That it was nice that 
the opening of the cave faced the south, 
for the sunshine made it so much 
warmer than it would have been other- 
wise; and then that little cedar tree 
had grown out toward the sun so that 
it shaded the opening and went far 
enough to shade Uncle Peter’s desk. 

Wouldn’t it be fun to go for a while 
to school in a cave school-room like 
that, with a nice little cedar tree to 
keep the sun from our eyes, and still 
be able to see out, all around, and hear 
the birds sing and see them drink out 
of Cubby Creek at recess time? 

But recess didn’t last, even in the 
bear school, and after the cubs had 
come back from hearing Bobby’s song 
Uncle Peter shook a big pine branch so 
hard that it sang and sang, for that 


60 


BOBBY BRUIN 


was what the bears used for a school 
bell. 

Bobby and Dorothy and all of the 
other cubs crawled back and marched 
to their seats, ready for lessons. 

What do you suppose the lessons 
were like? 

For reading they didn’t have books 
as we would have; but the cubs learned 
what all of the sounds of the trees 
meant, and what the songs of the birds 
meant ; then they learned the meaning 
of all kinds of tracks, those made by 
hunters and horses and cattle and foxes 
and coyotes and other animals. You 
might not call that reading, hut it is 
really a kind of reading, for bears have 
to read by sound as well as sight, and 
it was necessary for them to under- 
stand every forest sound. 

You already know about their writ- 
ing; how they mix the red mud with 
white gypsum and make marks with 
their claws on pieces of hark, or on tree 
stumps or hard hits of clay and earth. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


61 


Bear spelling was very strange. 
Just to show you how the word 
‘'school-room” was spelled, IJl tell you 
that they make a long straight line for 
“school,” and a funny short line for 
“room,” so it looks like this . 

But arithmetic was the funniest of 
all, and Uncle Peter sometimes taught 
them to figure in this way: 

“1 rock and 1 rock and 1 rock equal 
a cave.” 

And one of the take-away problems 
they had to learn was this : 

“From 5 little cubs take away 1 
naughty cub, leaving one lonely little 
cub, who has to stay in at recess.” 

But arithmetic was much nicer 
when they came to a place about ten 
feet away from a bush loaded with 
berries, and Uncle Peter taught them 
this: 

“1 berry bush times 5 footsteps 
equals 1 good dinner.” 

The bears really liked arithmetic 
better than their other lessons, except 


62 


BOBBY BRUIN 


when they divided, for little cubs are 
apt to be selfish, and they were not so 
anxious to learn that 

“1 nice big meal divided by 5 little 
cubs equals just 2 or 3 bites for each 
one.” 

Although the cubs were not always 
generous, they were not so much to 
blame, as bears do not know, as we do, 
liow wrong it is to be selfish. 

When it was time for the cubs to be 
dismissed for the daj^ they all started 
toward their dens, but the three mis- 
chievous cubs made Bobby and 
Dorothy crawl ahead, while they and 
Uncle Peter walked behind and sang: 

“School days, school days! 

Little cubby school days!” 
and all the rest of it; and when they 
came to the part, “Do you love me?” 
naughty little Buster Bear Clawfoot 
spoke out in a growly voice : “I surely 
do, Dorothy!” and Uncle Peter had to 
smile, while Bobby and Dorothy 
walked away as fast as they could. 



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Another Family had moved into the Neighborhood. 



CHAPTER VI. 

New Neighbors, 

School days in Black Bear school 
are over now, for Bobby and Dorothy 
and all the others have grown large 
and fat and good looking, too, and 
they consider that school a relic of 
baby days. 

Strange as it may seem the Cinna- 
mons and Clawfoots and Blackcoats 
and Bruins continued to occupy their 
old dens, which was something un- 
usual, for bears usually do not live in 
the same dens for two or three years in 
succession. 

Another family had moved into the 
neighborhood. They had come from 
the Bear Trap Country, which is a 
name used by both bears and people. 
The Indians had given Bear Trap 

63 


64 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Country its name, long before, Avhen 
the red men lived in that part of the 
West. 

The new family was a large one, 
with two sets of children. Mrs. Furry 
had been married twice, and when Mrs. 
Cinnamon — who was the most gossipy 
of the mothers — called, you may be 
sure that she asked some questions. 
And, naturally, because bears don’t 
know how to avoid answering ques- 
tions they don’t care to answer, Mrs. 
Cinnamon learned a great deal about 
the family history of the Bear Trap 
bears. 

Mrs. Furry’s name had been Mrs. 
Grizzly, and her life had been one of 
anxiety and sorrow. From the gossip 
of Mrs. Cinnamon the families of 
Black Bear Township found that Mr. 
Grizzly had been a very bad bear. He 
had the habit of prowling around 
ranches and stealing small pigs; but, 
although that is an awful thing for 
people to do, bears are never arrested 


BOBBY BRUIN 


65 


by their policemen for stealing, as that 
is sometimes the only way the bears 
can get food, since the}^ don’t have 
stores and shops. The whole big 
forest and the hills and mountains are 
their stores, but of course they would 
pay very dearly for stealing if some 
of the ranchmen or cowboys caught 
them. 

Old Mr. Grizzly was large and 
fierce, and weighed more than seven 
hundred pounds. He was a sly old 
bear, and had always managed to get 
away from the men of the ranch. So, 
one time, he thought he would try 
something else, and when he went out 
for food he stalked some cattle, which 
was very daring and reckless, for even 
a bear, but Mr. Grizzly had never been 
caught, and he had begun to feel proud 
of himself. One night he seized a big 
calf by the head and broke its neck; 
and then he ate some of it and never 
once thought of taking any home to 
Mrs. Grizzly and his three children, 


66 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Tommy, Sammy and Danny. He was 
too greedy, and that you may know 
just how piggish he was you must 
understand that when he walked from 
Bear Trap down to the place where he 
began to follow the calf he must have 
gone ten or twelve miles, and after 
he began to follow the poor, unsus- 
pecting calf he had to keep on to catch 
it, and when he did he was only about 
half a mile from the corrals of a ranch. 

Mrs. Grizzly told Mrs. Cinnamon 
that she didn’t approve of getting food 
in such dangerous ways, and that one 
could not blame the rancher for being 
angry and getting the state to put up 
the sign that read 

11,000 Reward! 

For the Capture, Dead or Alive, of 
Washington Grizzly. 

I have no idea how the bears found 
out about that notice of the one thou- 
sand dollars, but they did, somehow. 

When Mrs. Grizzly had tried to sug- 


BOBBY BRUIN 


67 


gest food that could be gotten in less 
dangerous ways — berries or green 
corn or honey or rabbits — the old bear 
got cross and would not listen to her at 
all, and told her that be wouldn’t bring 
any of what he caught home to her. So 
poor Mrs. Grizzly had a worrisome time 
of it. She was so afraid that the 
rancher whose calves Mr. Grizzly kept 
killing would finally catch Washing- 
ton, or shoot him, that she grew much 
thinner. Then Mr. Grizzly was an old 
crank and would not bring home any 
food, so she had to go out to get what 
she could. At last, so she told Mrs. 
Cinnamon, she took her three babies 
and left. And that was how Mrs. 
Grizzly happened to settle down near 
the Bruins, with Mr. Furry. 

It was such a relief, she said, not 
to have to worry, this winter, when 
she and the three grizzly cubs went in 
to take that long sleep so that they 
would not feel the cold. 

Mrs. Furry — she had already 


68 


BOBBY BRUIN 


changed her name — was very happy, 
and in mid-winter two dear little twin 
girl cubs arrived. Mother and Father 
Furry were greatly rejoiced; and as 
Father Furry was a cinnamon bear and 
Mother Fiirrj^ was a black bear like 
Father Bruin one little fat baby cub 
was just like her mother. And you’d 
never guess what they named her! It 
was ''Topsy,” and she was as black as 
tlie blackest little pickaninny. The 
other cub was cinnamon-colored, like 
Father Funw, so they called her 
''Brownie.” 

Bobby and Dorothy and the other 
cubs were excited when they learned, 
in the spring, of their new playmates. 
They had knoAvn of the family, for the 
Furry s had moved in on another side of 
the hill above Cubby Creek just before 
tlie winter came, but they had not 
had time to become acquainted until 
spring. When the cubs came out, as 
the weather grew warm, they found 
five new playmates, three boys, bigger 


BOBBY BRUIN 


69 


than they were, and two girls, just able 
to toddle and wobble along after their 
brothers. 

Dorothy and Josephine were glad 
that there were two more girl bears to 
play with, even if they were very 
small. 

Bobby wondered if he were big 
enough to fight the Grizzly brothers. 

Buster Bear still tried to be nice 
to Dorothy, and sometimes Bobbj^ 
thought that Dorothy was a little too 
nice to Buster. Bobby was so jealous 
that he wanted to show how brave he 
was, and what a fine fighter he could 
be, though everyone knows how fierce 
grizzlies are. 

But Bobby’s troubles had only begun. 
You know that we people have a saying 
that ^hhe course of true love never 
runs smoothly,” and the bears say it 
in their language, too. 

Of the Grizzly brothers Tommy and 
Sammy were very grizzly-looking; 
they looked like their father. Washing- 


70 


BOBBY BRUIN 


ton Grizzly, but Danny was smaller and 
more like his mother. 

So when the Grizzlies came around 
Bobby decided that Danny was the 
only one of the three who was nearly 
his size, for Tommy and Sammy were 
much bigger than any of the other 
bears. Then Bobby looked at Dorothy 
and she was walking toward the Griz- 
lies, and shaking paws with them, and 
was being especially kind and sweet, 
particularly to Tommy Grizzly, and 
Robert Lewis Bruin knew that Tommy 
was too big for him to fight. 

Bobby knew something else — where 
a fine, big bee tree was; so he sug- 
gested that they all go for a picnic up 
on the mountainside, where the wild 
bees had chosen an old pine tree in 
which to make their honey. 

Bobby was sure that he was going to 
be a hero. When they started out they 
Avent along together, until Bobby very 
jealousy said to Dorothy that she had 


BOBBY BRUIN 


n 


better walk with Tommy; that Tommy 
was making winky eyes at her. 

Dorothy was provoked, and she did 
exactly what Bohhy had suggested, not 
wdiat he really wanted her to do. Still 
Bobby thought, to himself, “I’m going 
to be a hero.” 

When the other bears saw Dorothy 
and Tommy walking together Buster 
and Billy thought they would do the 
same, and Billy took Josephine Black- 
coat’s arm. Buster had always ad- 
mired little bears, which was one reason 
for his liking for Dorothy, and so he 
went over to the Furry twins, almost 
forgetting, for the time, about Doro- 
thy, and walked by the side of black 
Topsy, with whom he must have fallen 
in love at first sight. 

By that time Sammy and Danny 
Grizzly were beginning to take notice 
that only one little girl was left alone, 
in the party, and that was their half 
sister, Browmie. The two were fond of 
their little sister, but bears are much 


72 


BOBBY BRUIN 


like persons; they are not so anxious to 
be nice to their sisters as to other hears’ 
sisters. So Sammy and Danny offered 
Brownie’s company for the walk up 
the mountainside to Bobby; but Bobby 
declined politely and Sammy escorted 
the somewhat disappointed Brownie, 
and Danny crawled along with Bobby. 

When the bears reached the bee tree 
Bobby was made the Bee Tree Chief, 
because he had found the tree; and be- 
cause he wanted to be a real hero he 
robbed the tree; he expected to get a 
few stings, but he was plucky and he 
went on with the robbing and each 
bear, in turn, came up and received a 
big pawful. He called them all by 
name — for once, the bears had on 
their company manners — and Dorothy 
thought that she was going to be left 
out, for the very last name to be called 
was ^^Dorothy Cinnamon;” but Bobby 
put in both of his paws, when she came 
up, and gave her a lot of honey. But 
as soon as both Bobby’s paws' were 


BOBBY BRUIN 


73 


in the sticky honey the bees began to 
sting his poor little nose and mouth 
and ears, and he didn’t have one of his 
front paws to use for fighting them 
away. 

When Dorothy had been given her 
portion Bobby ran part way down the 
mountainside and buried his stinging 
face in among some cool dead leaves, 
where the earth was moist. His face 
hurt him so that he didn’t care whether 
he was a hero or not. Of course 
the thought of Dorothy’s faithlessness 
made his little bear heart ache, too, 
but soon he heard paw-steps, and there 
was Dorothy, ready with her sympa- 
thy, and her suggestion that they all 
go home, so that either her mother or 
Bobb 3 ^’s could do something for those 
awful stings. 

All of the bears except Dorothy and 
Bobby went home together, and had a 
jolly time; but the poor, bee-stung 
hero and his dear friend crawled slow- 
1}^ tow^ard home, and one time, when 


74 


BOBBY BRUIN 


the wind wafted the voices of the two 
little bear friends to those in front 
Josephine told the others to listen, and 
they heard Bobby say, in bear growls: 

“Yes, but you held his paw so long, 
and looked so long right into his eyes.” 

Then Dorothy answered: “But 
Bobby, dear, you know that I must be 
extra polite to the new bears, for I am 
the mayor’s daughter.” 

And Bobby laughed his happy bear 
giggle, again, and said : “Oh, we don’t 
care, now, do wm, Dorothy?” 

Then the others heard him singing 
the old song, “School Days, School 
Days,” just as he had sung it when 
they had gone to the bear school in the 
cave Avith the cedar tree growing up 
through the rocks to the sunlight. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Dorothy’s Lovers. 

The new family of bears soon grew 
into the ways of the others in Black 
Bear Township, and the Bruins said, 
at one time, that it seemed as if those 
five cubs had always been around. 
Mother Bruin remarked how lovely 
it was that everyone liked the Grizzly 
triplets, as well as dear little Topsy 
and Brownie Furry. She added that 
surely Tommy, Sammy £(,nd Danny 
Grizzly did not take after their outlaw 
father. They were just like their 
mother except in looks. 

Buster Bear, who at one time ad- 
mired Dorothy so much w'as really 
growing into a fond and bashful lover 
of little Topsy Furry. This was a re- 
lief to Bobby, for it reduced the num- 

76 


76 


BOBBY BRUIN 


ber of his rivals to one, as Tommy 
openly admired Dorothy and made 
love to her. 

Bobby should have thought that 
Dorothy was so sweet that he could 
not blame anyone for loving her, but 
he wanted to be the only one. But 
girl bears are like girls and do not 
want one person to take all of their 
time, so, at first, secretlj^ and then 
more openly, Dorothy and Tommy 
took long walks and went berrying 
together. 

Bobby looked on, jealously. Often 
he went over to the Cinnamons just in 
time to see Tommy and Dorothy walk- 
ing up the mountainside. 

Tommy, being a grizzly, was far 
more sly and quick to take advantage 
of anything than Bobby would have 
been, and knew that Bobby always 
finished his dinner about a certain 
hour and would then start for the 
mayor’s house to escort Dorothy to 
some lovely place for bear lovers, and 





Mayor Cinnamon’s Family and their Den. 






BOBBY BRUIN 


77 


Tommy always managed to be a little 
ahead of Bobby. 

One day Mother Bruin had dinner 
earlier than usual, so Bobby was ush- 
ered in by the mayor, only a few 
minutes later than Tommy. If Bobby 
had not been so unhappy and kept 
looking at the ground all of the time 
while he was thinking such awful 
things of Tommy, he might have 
glanced ahead and seen Tommy ap- 
proaching the Cinnamon’s den. 

And if Tommy had not been so 
anxious to get there in a big hurry, 
to get ahead of Bobby, Tommy could 
have looked back and seen the second 
little bear, and perhaps Dorothy and 
Mother Bruin and everyone else would 
not have had such a dreadful experi- 
ence. 

Mayor Cinnamon had always favor- 
ed Bobby as a future son-in-law, and 
he did not look pleasantly on the com- 
ing of Tommy Grizzly, so when Bobby 
stepped into the room where Mrs. Cin- 


78 


BOBBY BRUIN 


namon was chaperoning Tommy and 
Dorothy, everyone was surprised ex- 
cept Mr. Cinnamon. 

Tommy just growled; Mother Cin- 
namon became nervous and excited; 
Bobby was angry, because he felt 
foolish, and Dorothy wondered why 
those two cubs couldn’t act sensibly 
and be friends. 

But it is hard for people to be sweet 
to one another under such circum- 
stances, and we should not expect more 
of bears than of persons. 

When all were seated again the 
bears didn’t seem to know what to 
saj^ until Father Cinnamon suggested 
that Tommy, Bobby and Dorothy go 
and pick some berries. 

Tommy said — of course each one 
talked bear talk — ‘‘I’ll be glad to take 
Dorothy,” Bobby answered as quick- 
ly, “Tommy can carry the basket, if 
he wants to; there is only room for 
two in the path.” 

And Dorothy said, “Bobby and 


BOBBY BRUIN 


79 


Tommy can go and gather the berries. 
I am too tired to go.’’ 

This rather rattled the mayor, so 
he suggested that they all stay at 
home, and maybe they would like to 
help Mother Cinnamon get supper, 
for she was not feeling very well, and 
he had to go to attend to some tax 
business of the township. 

He had no better luck than before, 
for Bobby spoke up, saying. ‘^Tommy 
can wash dishes and set the table, 
fine. His mother says so.” 

Tommy said: ''Let Bobby help Mrs. 
Cinnamon with dinner, this afternoon, 
and I’ll take care of Dorothy.” 

The young hostess was getting more 
worried, and she said: "Why, daddy, 
I’m not going to let m}^ guests help 
get supper. It’s my place to help 
mother.” 

Mayor Cinnamon grew impatient 
and flustered, and throwing up his 
front paws in despair, as he said : " Ar- 
ange it yourselves, my dears,” and 


80 


BOBBY BRUIN 


went out and down the hill to his 
business. 

It is not necessary to tell that the 
dinner was a failure, for it could not 
be a success, though there were cer- 
tainly some extras on the table. 

Bobby and Tommy glared at one 
another for a while, then Bobby had 
a bright thought; he knew where his 
mother was keeping some honey, so 
he went over and got part of it and 
brought it to the kitchen, only to hear 
Tommy say, “Here are some berries 
I’ve just gathered down hack of the 
.«chool-house.” 

That made Bobby feel not quite so 
proud of himself, but he braced up 
and walked in with a big hollowed 
out piece of tree trunk and said : “Here 
is some honey that mother and I got 
the other day.” Then, of course. 
Tommy didn’t feel so proud either. 

And that is the way it Avas the 
whole afternon. Finally Tommy went 
to Mother Cinnamon and talked to her. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


81 


and Bobby overheard this much: 
^^Must talk to Dorothy this evening 
won’t you arrange it, please f’ 

And because poor Mother Cinnamon 
didn’t know what else to say, she 
growled out a bear ^'yes.” 

Bobby sat down and waited until 
he saw the mayor coming, and then 
met him and told him what he had 
overheard, saying that he must see 
Dorothy, too. 

The mayor agreed to let Tommy 
have the first say, for Dorothy thought 
more of Bobby than any of her other 
playmates. Mayor Cinnamon declared, 
Bobby followed the advice of the 
mayor and waited, though he could 
not stop worrying. 

Just before dinner Tommy had his 
say, and Dorothy’s answer was not so 
hopeful as it might have been. She 
liked him very well, but her daddy and 
mother and Bobby, too, really thought 
it was all arranged, and she didn’t 
know, but she believed it would not 


82 


BOBBY BRUIN 


be quite fair to Bobby; that Tommy 
would have to wait; and there was 
where Dorothy proved herself to be a 
perfect little flirt, for she said, very 
shyly, to Tommy, that he might still 
come to see her. 

Tommy had to be satisfied with that, 
and just then dinner was announced 
and three good little cubs ate their 
meal in silence; Tommy, because he 
knew his answer, Bobby, because he 
did not and Dorothy because — well — 
just because! 

Afterward, when the mayor asked 
Tommy out to look at some hunter’s 
tracks, Bobby had his chance. , His 
answer was hardly as encouraging as 
Tommy’s had been. Dorothy was quite 
sure that she had been promised, in 
a way, to Bobby, and that she liked 
him quite well, but she just couldn’t 
tell if she really loved him or not ; that 
she did like to go out with Tommy, but 
of course Bobby must keep right on 


BOBBY BRUIN 


83 


being her escort, to some of the 
parties. 

Bobby was not so patient as he 
might have been and he said that if 
he couldn’t take her to all of them, 
he wouldn’t take her to any; that he’d 
just leave Black Bear Township and 
get another girl. 

Dorothy, who had not expected any 
such thing, was surprised when Bobby 
rushed out of the den and started for 
his home. She commenced to whine, 
and Mother Cinnamon came in and 
was told about everything and she 
petted Dorothy and advised her to go 
to bed and not to see Tommy any 
more that night; that matters might 
be better by morning. 

The next day Father and Mother 
Bruin came over to the Cinnamon’s 
den and said: “The young folks must 
have had a fine time last night, but 
where are they? Where’s Bobby?” 

Mrs. Cinnamon’s face looked so 
scared that Father Bruin wanted to 


84 


BOBBY BRUIN 


know if Bobby had not stayed there 
all night, and Mother Bruin said: 

''Why, Bobb}^ came home in a great 
hurry, and gave Father Bruin and me 
big bear hugs and told us that there 
was an all night party up here; that 
all the cubs were going down toAvard 
the ranches and have a green A^egetable 
party; that the cabbage and green corn 
Avere just fine, and that right near that 
Avas a big grove Avhere there Avere lots 
of oak trees, and they could eat acorns 
until not one of them Avould eA^er again 
Avant another acorn. 

Then Father Cinnamon repeated all 
that Mother Cinnamon liad told him, 
and they sent for Dorothy, avIio said: 
"Yes, Bobby got mad and Avouldn’t 
Avait for me to hardly finish, and I’m 
sure I do love him, but I didn’t think 
he really Avould go away, as he said,” 
and Dorothy Availed, again. 

Mother and Father Bruin AA^ere 
heart-broken, and didn’t care to talk, 
so they Avent home, hoping that Bobby 


BOBBY BRUIN 


85 


would return; but no Bobby did they 
see. They waited all day, and then 
decided that the next morning Father 
Bruin should start out and go in dif- 
ferent directions each day and look 
in all of the likely places in which a 
bear might hide. Mother Bruin was 
to stay at home — always to be there 
to welcome her Bobby. 

The next day the other families 
learned of Bobby’s disappearance and 
all joined in the search, but to no 
avail. Dorothy refused to go any- 
where with Tommy, and would not 
leave home at all, except to stay with 
Mrs. Bruin, waiting for Bobby. 

At last the mayor called a meeting 
of the bear families, and because every 
bear, old or young, was allowed to 
attend, the cubs were present. 

Buster Bear Clawfoot, one of the 
parsonage cubs, suggested that they 
get big pieces of bark and write on 
each a notice of Bobby’s disappear- 
ance, with his description ; so they were 


86 


BOBBY BRUIN 


all put to work. The boy cubs were 
to look for the bark, and the older 
and larger ones were to cut the pieces 
from the old tree or stump where they 
found them. The mayor, Uncle Peter 
and the father bears in general were 
to select the most prominent places 
along the trails. Of course you know 
that the long mountain trails that are 
followed for long distances go only 
in two directions, but there are often 
branches from the main trail through 
the passes of the mountains and along 
the creeks, therefore there were a good 
many notices to print. 

The girl cubs were to make a whole 
lot of ink and have it ready; while 
the mothers, with the exception of 
Mother Bruin, were to have a fine, 
big dinner ready by the time that the 
work was done. 

Mother Bruin was too heart-broken 
to do anything, and she was so sick 
from the worry of it all that Mrs. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


87 


Clawfoot, the minister’s wife, gave 
most of her time to the care of Bobby’s 
mother. 

When the workers returned Uncle 
Peter said to remember that a very 
important bear proverb was: 

^‘If you’ve work to do, a big dinner 
eat. 

Work on a full stomach cannot be 
beat.” 

So the bears all ate heartily, except 
Mother and Father Bruin, who could 
hardl}^ be expected to, when their onlj^ 
son was gone — perhaps killed. 

After the meal had been eaten the 
boy cubs brought the strong pieces 
of bark, the little girl bears told in 
Avhat hollow stump they had made the 
ink, and the fathers and Uncle Peter 
named the places they had chosen for 
placing the notices. Uncle Peter 
printed the signs, as he had so much 
more education than the others. The 
mayor signed the notices, which read: 


88 


BOBBY BRUIN 


BOBBY BRUIN 
Disappeared 

Any bear knowing the where- 
abouts of this young black bear,, 
weight 200 pounds, please notify 
his sorrowing parents, living in 
Black Bear Township. 

(Signed) Mayor Cinnamon. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIND. 

When Bobby left Mayor Cinnamon’s 
house he intended to go home but not 
to stay there. Just where he was go- 
ing he had no idea, but he knew that 
his little bear heart ached very much 
and that he wanted to go far away 
from everybody. So he bade his 
parents goodhy, and instead of going 
hack to Cinnamon’s, as they thought 
he was doing, he walked toward the 
West, and the farther west one goes 
from Cubby Creek the fewer people 
one sees, though bears and other ani- 
mals inhabit the surrounding country. 

Bobby traveled most all night, and 
he went so fast that when morning 
dawned he was many miles from 
Black Bear Township, and he was 

89 


80 


BOBBY BRUIN 


tired, too, and had commenced to 
realize how far he was from home. 

But Bobby was a sensible little hear 
and he decided to go to sleep, and when 
he awakened he would make up his 
mind what he wanted to do. In a 
dreadfully cross way, he said: 

''1 won’t go back and see that old 
Tommy Grizzly taking walks with 
my girl!” 

Bobby went on and on, wishing that 
he could find a nice, snug little den. 
Suddenly he noticed some rather large 
rocks on the side of a hill, which he 
felt sure, would he a good resting- 
place. So he climbed up the hill and 
found not only a resting-place, hut 
a regular bear’s den. The rocks had 
fallen so that a big hole was under- 
neath, away from the sight of people, 
and from most of the animals, too. 

It was just about dawm when Bobby 
crawled inside of the den, and he was 
so tired that he went right to sleep, 
and never awakened until late the next 


BOBBY BRUIN 


91 


afternoon — almost evening. After lie 
opened liis little, squinty eyes and re- 
membered all of his troubles he was 
very, very sad, for Bobby had never 
been away from his home and friends 
before. Then, too, he remembered 
that he had not eaten much supper, at 
Dorothy’s house, and he began to be 
very hungiy. 

About that time lie heard the funni- 
est sounds — sounds that he had never 
heard before. He crawled from under 
the rocks and looked around, and what 
do you think he saw'? He saw some 
fences that enclosed sheep pens, only 
Bobby didn’t know what to call them. 
They puzzled him. He heard the 
strange sound again, and this time it 
was like this: ''Baa-aa-a!” 

Bobby turned and looked in the di- 
rection from which the noise came and 
he saw a herd of sheep coming toward 
the pens. It was getting nearly night 
and Bobby was so hungry that a tiny 


92 


BOBBY BRUIN 


bad thought made him say to him- 
self : 

“Here’s where I get my dinner to- 
night! Say, but I’m in luck!” 

Isn’t it too bad that bears can’t al- 
ways be good and eat berries and not 
want nice little lambs? It was a shame, 
but Bobby was tired and hungry and 
cross. In fact, he was still angry, and 
wanted to be a bad, bad bear. 

When night-time came and every- 
thing was quiet, except for the occa- 
sional cry of a lamb or sheep, Bobby 
crept down close to the herd and wait- 
ed until the dog that is always with 
a herd was on the farther side, then he 
came closer and closer. 

Some lambs are like little boys and 
girls — when they are old enough to go 
about alone sometimes, • they often 
think that they are able to do so all 
of the time. One lamb was quite sure 
that he could take care of himself, so 
he wouldn’t sleep near his mother, but 
lay down at a little distance. That 



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Bobby” Spied the I amb. 







BOBBY BRUIN 


93 


little distance was just far enough 
away for Bobby, for the bear looked 
like a great big dog, as be was not a 
grown-up bear yet. 

Bobby spied the lamb, and before 
the little creature could cry out for 
help bad him between bis jaws and 
was shuffling away, as fast as pos- 
sible. 

Though Bobby had been as quiet as 
be could, be had caused a certain 
amount of confusion, and the sheep 
and lambs began to cry, but when 
there was no more trouble, they again 
grew still. 

Bobby’s rocky den proved to be a 
fine place in which to eat his evening 
meal. I know you’re all dreadfully 
shocked at Bobby, but even a good 
little cub can become bad if he doesn’t 
keep trying to be good. 

For the next three nights Bobby had 
a meal of lamb, and he was growing 
so bad that he wanted a fresh one every 
night, so he stole a lamb each night. 


94 


BOBBY BRUIN 


after the first one was eaten. When 
he came near the herd there was al- 
ways an uneasiness among the sheep, 
for Bobby became careless. 

On the fourth night Bobby caught 
one of the little animals, but he heard 
a shot from a gun whiz by his ear. 
But instead of frightening him it made 
him much more angrj^, and he was 
quite determined to steal another one 
that very same night. But something 
else happened that Bobby least ex- 
pected. When he was going up the 
hill Avith the lamb he heard a soft noise 
that he knew meant that another bear 
AAuxs near. 

XoAv, it is nice, Avhen one is lonely, 
to meet someone else of one’s own 
kind, but Bobby was growing selfish, 
and was afraid that he Avould have to 
share that lamb with another bear, so 
he groAvled, and instead of growling 
back the other bear gave a grunty 
laugh and spoke in growls and grunts. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


95 


saying: ''Why, Bobby, I've found 

you at last." 

Do you know who had come all the 
way to find Bobby? And he had come 
a much longer way than Bobby had, 
for he had folloAved all of the side trails 
and looked in all of the places that 
seemed like dens. He had had but lit- 
tle food in those four days, and had not 
stopped to rest at all. The bear who 
was showing how nice and kind he 
was, was none other than Tommy 
Grizzly. 

Of course Bobby would have pre- 
ferred to be found by any other bear 
than Tommy; but lie realized how 
homesick he had been and still was, 
and he thought how really pleased he 
Avas to see someone from Black Bear 
ToAvnship; so instead of being cross 
he was glad to see Tommy, and told 
him: ^H'm mighty tickled to see jmu, 
and ITl share my dinner Avith you." 

Tommy AA^as older than Bobby — not 
Amry much, but still a year is quite a 


96 


BOBBY BRUIN 


difference in age, and a lot more in 
bears than in children. Now Tommy 
gave Bobby some good advice about 
stealing sheep, and such animals. He 
said that he knew how bad it was be- 
cause his father had done that. Then 
Tommy told how unhappy his mother 
had been before she ran away and mar- 
ried Mr. Furry. He said that it would 
make Father and Mother Bruin sor- 
rowful if they knew what Bobby had 
done. He warned the younger bear 
that sooner or later the hunters almost 
always get those who steal sheep; that 
he had met two bears from the Bear 
Trap Country, and they had told him 
that ^^Old Man Grizzly,’’ as they called 
him, had been captured alive, by hunt- 
ers, and was being held. The strange 
bears were rejoiced because the hunt- 
ers had not killed the old bear, as they 
thought that killing was too good for 
him. 

That made Tommy feel bad, to think 
that it was his father whom they were 


BOBBY BRUIN 


97 


talking about, but he didn’t let the two 
know who he was, and in some ways 
Tommy was glad that his father had 
been taken, for now his mother would 
not worry for fear Mr. Grizzly would 
come to her new home and cause 
trouble. 

Tommy told Bobby how much 
Father and Mother Bruin Avanted their 
little cub back home again, and how 
much someone else Avanted Bobby to 
come home. Of course the ^^someone” 
AA^as Dorothy. 

You see Tommy had proA^ed to be 
the best kind of a friend. When he 
saAA^ hoAA^ heart-broken Dorothy was 
he offered to look for Bobby. 

All of these things made Bobby do 
a lot of thinking, and he realized hoAA" 
A^ery bad he had been; and then, be- 
cause he was just a little homesick 
cub, he went to bed, a sorrowful cub, 
A^ery sick of lamb. If a child eats 
much of just one thing for seA^eral days 
the child is going to become sick; and 


98 


BOBBY BRUIN 


that was the way with Bobby — he had 
eaten too much lamb. 

The next morning Bobby was more 
ill than ever, so Tommy went out and 
gathered some herbs and berries and 
gave them to him. They both wanted 
to go home, but poor Bobby was too 
sick to go. Tommy nursed him as 
well as he could, until, in three more 
da5^s, the little invalid could walk a 
short distance. That is the way they 
started toward home, by walking a 
mile or two each evening; the rest of 
the day Bobby lay still or slept, while 
Tommy went out and gathered herbs 
and berries to make medicine for 
Bobby, and to give him nourishing 
food. But it took a long while to get 
home in that way. 

How happy all of the bears in Black 
Bear Township were when the two 
cubs arrived! The home folks had 
been watching and watching for 
Tommy to come either with Bobby, 


BOBBY BRUIN 


99 


or alone; and it had been more than 
two weeks since Tommy left. 

The two cubs reached home early 
one morning. Bobby had rested a 
while in the night, for he had wanted 
to make the last of the journey the 
next morning. They had walked an 
hour or two in the evening, then 
stopped and rested, then walked again 
in the middle of the night. 

The closer Bobby came to home the 
more excited he became, but at last 
both bears were crawling along down 
the valley as fast as Bobby could 
manage to go. Tommy stopped and 
listened. He heard a familiar sound. 
Then he started up a little faster, help- 
ing Bobby along until they rounded a 
bend of the hill, and whom do you 
suppose thej^ saw? Dear Old Father 
Bruin. And didn’t he hurry to meet 
them? The parsonage twins, Buster 
and Billy Clawfoot, had been taking 
their morning baths in Cubby Creek, 
and when they saw Father Bruin bur- 


100 


BOBBY BRUIN 


rying, they knew, immediately, why 
it was; and the}^^ scampered away to 
tell their parents and neighbors. 

By the time that Father Bruin had 
given Bobby a really and truly hear 
hug and was listening to Tommy’s ac- 
count of Bobby’s illness, the whole 
population of the township had gath- 
ered in the valley and was rushing 
and Avobhling and crawling and shuf- 
fling to meet the wanderer. 

Tommy had been gone so long that 
everyone was afraid that something 
dreadful had happened to him or 
Bobby, or both, so it was a great wel- 
come that awaited the cubs. 

Bobby was the prodigal bear, who 
had come home to his friends; and 
Tommy was the hero, so both came in 
for a share of the welcome. 

Dorothy came with Mother Bruin, 
and Bobby thought how lovely it all 
was. But Bobby had been really very 
ill, and when they all began to tell 
him that they were going to have a 


BOBBY BRUIN 


101 


fine dinner in his honor he could not 
get interested, at all. Even when 
Dorothy’s father and mother hinted 
that they might give a fine dinner for 
Bobby and another little hear — and 
Bobby knew that the other little bear 
Avould be Dorothy — he only smiled a 
bear grin and nodded his head, for the 
trip had been too much of an excite- 
ment for the sick little hear, and it 
seemed to him that he would never 
again he able to get up and scamper 
about. 

When the bears found out how ill 
he was they took turns helping, until 
they got him home. Then Uncle Peter 
Glacier said that he would doctor the 
patient. Kind friends brought pine 
and spruce boughs, and Uncle Peter 
made Bobb}^ go to bed. Bobby tried 
hard to thank his friends, and he was 
anxious for them to know what 
Tommy had done for him, hut all that 
he could say before he dozed off into 
a feverish sleep, was : ^^Tommy’s 
grand! He’s a fine hear!” 


CHAPTEE IX. 

WEDDING FESTIVITIES. 

The morning of Bobby’s return was 
a happy morning in Black Bear Town- 
ship — happy and sad, too; sad because 
poor Bobby was really quite ill. But 
all illnesses have an end, and so did 
Bobby’s. And when he was once more 
a jolly, fat, little bear what fun the 
cubs did have! 

Everybody was talking about the 
love affairs of Dorothy and Bobby. 
Now that Bobby was well he com- 
menced to realize how fine and brave 
Tommy had been, and couldn’t do 
enough to show his appreciation of 
Tommj^’s kindness. 

Bobby suggested to his Mother that 
she have a nice spread for the young 
hears, and Dorothj^ suggested almost 
102 


BOBBY BRUIN 


103 


the same thing to her folks; so, one 
day, Mrs. Cinnamon went calling and 
visited all of the homes — the Clawfoot 
parsonage, the Blackcoat home, the 
Furry den, and the Bruin’s; and at 
each place she said the same thing — • 
that she and Mayor Cinnamon were 
giving a dinner. All of the invited 
guests seemed to feel reasonably sure 
that they knew just what kind of a 
dinner it was going to be. So few 
people lived in Black Bear Township 
that it is no wonder that each of the 
families knew about the domestic af- 
fairs of the others. But it would not 
be polite to let Mrs. Cinnamon know 
that they were curious or knew about 
her family affairs, so each mother ac- 
cepted the invitation for her entire 
family. 

As soon as Mrs. Cinnamon had gone 
Mrs. Clawfoot wobbled out and told 
Mrs. Blackcoat that of course it was 
about Dorothy and Bobby, and Mrs. 
Blackcoat agreed with her. 


104 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Mrs. Cinnamon had given the invi- 
tations on the afternoon before, for 
that was a long enough time for bears 
to get ready for the biggest and finest 
dinner ever served. 

Even bears become excited over a 
social event in hear towns, and they 
were much enthused over the Cinna- 
mon’s dinner. It was a beautiful day 
and the dinner was to be in the eve- 
ning. The Cinnamons had foraged 
all around, and had gathered green 
vegetables of nearly every kind. 
There were new beets, and green 
beans, and nice, juicy peas and onions 
and lettuce — the green corn was 
hardly ripe, yet — and there were ber- 
ries, too. It was the very grandest 
time of the year in which to have a 
grand dinner, with dessert, as the 
choke cherries — those tiny, red, wild 
cherries— were just everywhere. It 
was easy to gather them, as the trees 
were loaded down and the trees grew 
all along Cubby Creek. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


105 


You may wonder what kind of meats 
the Cinnamons were going to have, 
because they were law-abiding hears 
and would not think of having tame 
meats, like beef and lamb. And, too, 
they felt that it would have been in- 
sulting to Bobby, for you remember, 
he had stolen many lambs. 

Mayor Cinnamon went out on the 
morning of the dinner and caught a 
dozen or so nice, big rabbits, so that 
Mrs. Cinnamon could serve rabbit for 
her meat course. 

Dinner was served outside of the 
den, on a level place on the mountain 
side, and what a jolly time the bears 
had! After they had eaten rabbits, 
and the fresh vegetables, they were 
ready for the choke cherries. Just at 
that time the mayor rose, and all of 
the bears waited, some of them rather 
impatiently. He looked around, 
slowly, then said: 

^Triends, it is a great pleasure to 
address you” — he was so swelled up 


106 


BOBBY BRUIN 


with the importance of the occasion 
that he forgot that it was not a public 
meeting, hut just a gathering of his 
neighbors — '^particularly because I 
liave a delightful surprise for you.” 
He stopped and cleared his throat in 
a way that would have been funny to 
us, and resumed: "But perhaps it is 
not so great -a surprise, after all. 
Friends, I have the honor to announce 
the engagement of our daughter, Mrs. 
Cinnamon’s and mine, to Robert 
Lewis, son of our esteemed attorney, 
Mr. James Bruin.” 

Xow. instead of applauding with the 
hands, hears give applause by growl- 
ing and grunting, and the Cinnamons’ 
guests applauded at a terrible rate. 

Mayor Cinnamon then announced 
that the marriage ceremony would take 
place the following week in Cubby 
Creek Valley, underneath the great 
stone arch. The arch of which he 
spoke was formed something like a 
bridge, yon will remember. 


BOBBY BRUIN 


107 


The diners then ate their dessert 
and congratulated Bobby and wished 
Dorothy much joy. All had such a 
jolly time that it was nearly noon of 
the next day before they went to their 
dens, and then they just slept and 
slept — all of them except Dorothy and 
her mother, who had many plans to 
make — plans for the ceremony, and it 
was such work to decide who would he 
the attendants. Mrs. Cinnamon did 
not want to offend any of her good 
friends, so, finally, Dorothy decided 
that she would have all of the jmung 
bears march with Bobby and herself. 

While Dorothy was busy with the 
wedding plans Bobby was every hit 
as busy finding a home. And where 
do you suppose he found it? Far up 
on the mountain side, east of Black 
Bear Township, in a place that people 
call ^'The Old Indian Huts.’’ A long 
time ago, about 1870, some white men 
went to a spot about thirty miles south 
of where the huts are and found a 


108 


BOBBY BRUIN 


place that has been called, since, 
^^The MacKenzie Battlefield,” inhab- 
ited by Indians. White men watched, 
and one day when the men of 
the tribe had gone to a town about 
fifty miles away, for provisions, sur- 
rounded the village and killed the 
men who had been left at home, 
and took their horses and food. 
Perhaps the white men would have 
killed the squaws and papooses, too, 
if the warriors had not returned and 
frightened the others away. As soon 
as night came the Indian men took 
their wives and children and walked 
to the place, which Bobby afterward 
had chosen for a home, and built a 
stockade and huts all around that part 
of the mountain. There were so many 
pine and spruce trees that no one could 
see that anyone lived there, but the 
Indians could see out between the 
branches, which are, you know, green 
all of the year. The Indians also 
brought their dead and buried them 


BOBBY BRUIN 


109 


near to the place, on boards up in the 
trees, where they left their comrades 
for their long, last sleep, as the In- 
dians call death. 

In this very spot Bohhy had found 
a fine hear den. You see the Indians 
had all died or been driven off years 
before Bobby was ready to go to 
liousekeeping, although the stockade 
was still there. Bobby thought that 
the Indians certainly knew how to 
choose a nice, secluded place, and he 
told Dorothy that he believed he would 
be a real estate agent; Dorothy en- 
couraged him in it, so he asked Uncle 
Peter to help him fix a sign, and when 
it was ready for use this is the way 
it read: 

Kohert Lewis Bruin, 

Real Estate. 

Homes for Rent or Sale, on 
Red Man Hill, 

Newest Addition to Black Bear 
Township. 


110 


BOBBY BRUIN 


Bol>by surprised the inhabitants of 
the township when he put up the sign 
at a prominent place above Cubby 
Creek, and they all commended him 
very highly on his ambitious ideas. 
Then the other young bears decided 
that they had better choose their work, 
and that they had better get married 
and get homes. 

The new home of Dorothy and 
Bobbj^ faced south, and was under a 
big rock, and it had so many pine trees 
and rocks around that there could be 
only one opening, which is important 
to bears, on account of their going to 
sleep and sleeping during the winter 
months, when only one door is safer 
than if there were two. 

The Bruins and the Cinnamons had 
already seen the home of their chil- 
dren, and were well pleased. After 
Dorothy made up her mind to have all 
of the young bears act as attendants 
at her wedding she said that she be- 
lieved it would be the best way for 





The New Home of “Dorothy” and “Bobby” 


BOBBY BRUIN 


111 


all of the mothers and fathers, except 
the minister, to march down to the 
big stone arch, so that is the way 
they did. 

When all was ready, the wedding 
march began. It was very different 
from our music; when the bears 
started, all of the pine trees on the 
mountain sang, as their branches 
swayed in the breezes. It was delight- 
ful music for a hear wedding, and 
when the old ones saw how well their 
children marched — although we should 
have called it ^^shuffling” — they were 
proud of their cubs. First came the 
Eeverend Mr. Clawfoot, who walked 
sedately and slowly along Box Elder 
Avenue; next were the four ushers. 
Tommy Grizzly and Buster Bear 
Clawfoot, together, and behind them 
Sammy and Danny Grizzly; then came 
Billy Clawfoot and Josephine Black- 
coat, the best man and maid of honor, 
although the bears did not call them 
that, exactly. 


112 


BOBBY BRUIN 


These bears were stylish and up-to- 
date, and as they could not go to a 
florist and buy beautiful baskets and 
lovely flowers, they used the branches 
of evergreen trees, instead. Jose- 
phine’s basket was a spruce branch, 
and in among the needles were twined 
clusters of white flowers, which some 
people call “loco weed,” hut they 
looked like wild sweet peas. 

Can you imagine how lovely that 
basket would he, and how pretty the 
pine branches were with flowers 
twined in them for the dear little 
Furry twins to carry? For Brownie 
and Topsy were to he the flower girls. 
Brownie’s branch had hunches of pur- 
ple and white asters; and Topsy’s was 
similar, only the flowers were pink 
and white. All along the path of the 
little hear bride the flower-cubs scat- 
tered pretty blossoms. 

Dorothy looked as sweet as any lit- 
tle girl bear could possibly look; and 
instead of a veil, for she just could not 


BOBBY BRUIN 


113 


march with a long veil, she had 
wreaths of asters and sweet peas 
around her neck and shoulders, and a 
few of the blossoms were tucked in be- 
hind her ears. But her bouquet was 
the loveliest of all. It was of beauti- 
ful white clematis, which grows plen- 
tifully in the hills, and it seemed just 
right for a bride to carry, with its 
trailing leaves and blossoms. 

When the bridal party had marched 
down through the arch and was stand- 
ing in place for the ceremony, Mr, 
Clawfoot held up his paw, and all of 
the bears stood up, in as dignified a 
manner and as solemnly as they could. 
It would be hard to understand all that 
was said, but one thing I am certain 
about, and that is that when Bobby 
took something from between his 
claws — you see that was his substitute 
for a pocket — ^it must have been a wed- 
ding ring, because he slipped it over 
one of Dorothy’s claws. And I know 
that you will think that wedding ring 


114 


BOBBY BRUIN 


was a fine one when I tell you that it 
was made of long pine needless braided 
tightly and fastened together, forming 
a nice green circle. 

Soon after this the ceremony 
seemed to be over, for the bears com- 
menced congratulations and then, in- 
stead of being entertained at the 
bride's home all went up to the Bruins' 
den for a fine wedding supper. 

When the ceremony was over Bobby 
and Dorothy left for their wedding 
trip, only it was not going to be a long 
one — ^just up to their new home, the 
‘^Hill Den," on Bed Man Hill. 

We often throw rice and old shoes 
after a departing bride and groom, 
but bears do not wear shoes, so they 
used red sand as a substitute for rice, 
and such a lot of it as they did throw ! 

Then came the strangest part of the 
ceremony, for instead of singing as we 
would do before the ceremony the 
bears waited until the happ^ pair were 
leaving, and then sang, in their bearish 
way, the following bridal chorus : 


BOBBY BRUIN 


115 


Bears at your side, bridegroom and 
bride, 

Go to the bear den where love waits 
to bless! 

Valor and might, beauty so bright. 
Bide there together in joy measure- 
less! 

Through the long sleep of winter 
abide, 

There in the den, whatever betide! 

And when the time comes, early in the 
spring. 

Come forth to greet us, welcome weTl 
bring! 

All of your friends, and parents, too. 

Gladly best wishes will give to you; 

Bears at your side, bridegroom and 
bride. 

Go to the bear den where love waits 
to bless! 

Valor and might, beauty so bright. 
Bide there together in joy measure- 
less! 






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